The definition of co-creation is simple to decipher in its face. Co-creation, like it sounds, is collective creativity between two or more people in a collaborative space. Those people can include business stakeholders, trained professionals in various disciplines, consumers or members of communities.
A 2009 white paper by market advisory firm Frontier Strategy Group defined five guiding principles of successful co-creation: inspire participation, select the very best, connect creative minds, share results, and continue development. There are many examples from as far back as the 17th century in the United States that fit these parameters. But it’s only been in the past couple decades that co-creation as a concept in business and mainstream vernacular started picking up steam.